getting into science post grad

rantyface

I've heard some people get bigger grants than others for doing PhDs in science. I just missed getting a 1.1 in 3rd year because I was sick during the exams. Since I had studied, I decided I would still do better if I sat them in May than if I took extenuating circumstances and forgot everything anyway. Will I still get accepted for a grant? I've heard they use 3rd year grades when deciding who gets the grants because they do them before your 4th year results are out. Is that true?

El Siglo

rantyface wrote: »

I've heard some people get bigger grants than others for doing PhDs in science. I just missed getting a 1.1 in 3rd year because I was sick during the exams. Since I had studied, I decided I would still do better if I sat them in May than if I took extenuating circumstances and forgot everything anyway. Will I still get accepted for a grant? I've heard they use 3rd year grades when deciding who gets the grants because they do them before your 4th year results are out. Is that true?

If Raphael is around some time, could he move this thread to the postgrad forum as I think it's more suitable for discussion in there.

Long and short of it OP, you'll need to discuss your research proposal or intention of doing a research postgrad with some member of staff in your respective area of interest, speak to them before you do anything else this is crucial. Also, yes the main funding bodies (primarliy IRCSET being your first port of call with funding) do accept your 3rd year results on the first round of offers and then the final results in the second round of offers. At the moment, you'll need to have dynamite cv and would greatly enhance your chances if you did a masters (taught or research), because it shows you have done research on this and you have ability and experience etc...

Really, first thing you should do is find out what your interested in, what topics appeal to you, are they available as thematic programmes somewhere, research your topics because it helps in the application process for the grant if you know what you're talking about. And discuss this with a potential supervisor, and try and work something out that you could research. Again, read some of the threads over the last 6 months in the postgrad forum, there's tonnes of stuff relating to this and it's definitely worth a read.

Raphael

I hear and obey, oh master ; )

Ghostswimmer

I agree with El Siglo. But one other thing to keep in mind. Not all grants that fund PhD studentships are individual-based grants like IRCSET. These types of grants are directed towards individuals and as stated above, you need a cracking CV for it.

The other grants, depending on what type of science you do, are obtained by the head of the lab (known as Principle Investigator or PI). These come from Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland etc. and are totally independent of your own CV and grades. They are awarded to the lab and not to the individual student.

It's a little more info than you need, but just so you are aware. As stated, talk to the PI/Supervisor in what you are interested in. They will be able to show you all the offers available and some will have grants waiting for PhD students. Some PIs don't advertise their PhD positions as they rather the student come looking. It shows a desire on the part of the student, which is the single crucial thing for a PhD. It's a marathon.

YFlyer

rantyface wrote: »

I've heard some people get bigger grants than others for doing PhDs in science. I just missed getting a 1.1 in 3rd year because I was sick during the exams. Since I had studied, I decided I would still do better if I sat them in May than if I took extenuating circumstances and forgot everything anyway. Will I still get accepted for a grant? I've heard they use 3rd year grades when deciding who gets the grants because they do them before your 4th year results are out. Is that true?

Hi rantyface. if you be interested in working under Professor Michael Hayes CES Department University of Limerick. PM me you CV and other relevant information and i can see what I can do.

rantyface

I'm doing a 12 week research placement at the moment, and I should get a 1:1 in 4th year, although I stupidly took a very hard elective I was interested in this semester and was sick for my best exam. The placement is not really the area I want to go into (drug development), but it's still organic chemistry, and the synthesis and analysis are bound to be similar for any organic chemistry research.

The experiments I'm doing are the same standard as the ones the PhD students are doing, and are important for the research group.

Also, how close to your "dream" research topic can you get? My understanding is that it has to fit within the research group's scope, and otherwise you won't get funding.

Thanks for all your advice so far!